


No More Vacancies (This Heart Is Taken)

by writetherest



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Sharing a Bed, Vacation, trope mashup fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 03:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/pseuds/writetherest
Summary: “I’m sorry Miss Swan, but we are entirely booked up.”Emma snatches the key card with a huff. “Fine.”Regina follows along behind her, muttering about how she knew she should have made the reservations herself.Henry offers the desk clerk a smile before sliding an envelope her way, giving her a wink, then turning to follow after his mothers.





	No More Vacancies (This Heart Is Taken)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the trope mashup prompt of bed sharing and vacation fic over on Tumblr. I had started a fic that fit that prompt aaaaages ago. So I dug it out and finally finished it. 
> 
> Set after Season 4 but before Season 5, assuming that they somehow saved Emma from being the Dark Swan and Zelena’s pregnancy was normal length. 
> 
> Title taken from the Adam Gregory song No Vacancy.

“Wait a minute. What do you mean this is the key to our room? We’re supposed to have two rooms. Plural.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Swan, but according to our reservation information, you only booked one room with us.” The desk clerk offers with a pasted-on smile.

“No. I know that I booked adjoining rooms for all of our hotels on this trip. I know that I did.” Emma insists, feeling Regina’s eyes burning holes in the back of her head.

The clerk hits a few buttons on the keyboard and clicks the mouse once before looking back up with the same expression. “I’m sorry, Miss Swan, but we only have you listed as having the one room.”

“Okay. Fine. That’s – this is ridiculous, but fine. I’ll just book another room right now. Let me just get my credit card and –”

“Actually,” the clerk interrupts, “we don’t have any other rooms available.”

Emma blinks twice at that. “Are you kidding me? It’s a freakin’ Monday night for goodness sake. There’s got to be something available, somewhere in this hotel.”

“I’m sorry Miss Swan, but we are entirely booked up.”

Emma snatches the key card with a huff. “Fine.”

Regina follows along behind her, muttering about how she knew she should have made the reservations herself.

Henry offers the desk clerk a smile before sliding an envelope her way, giving her a wink, then turning to follow after his mothers.

**

The room is really nice. Very spacious and rather modern looking.  It’s way more expensive of a place than Emma would’ve booked if it had just been for her – or even for her and Henry, he knows. It’s also suited very much to Regina’s tastes, Henry can tell. He’s not sure that she can at the moment though, as she’s still muttering angrily about the room situation as she exits the bathroom where she was changing into her pajamas.

“Uh, Mom?” Henry finally says loud enough to catch her attention.

“What?” She hisses out before catching herself.  She rubs a hand over her face and then offers him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. What is it?”

Henry just glances over to where Emma is laying down a pillow and extra blanket on the floor between the two beds.

Regina sighs, seeming to understand what Henry is saying, without ever saying it. “Miss Swan, you don’t have to –”

Emma flinches at the Miss Swan, Henry notices, but he doesn’t think his mom does, before cutting her off. “Regina, it’s fine, really. I know I booked us two rooms, I don’t know what happened, but you’re right, it’s my fault we’re in this situation, so I’ll just sleep here.”

“I’m sure that Henry could –” Regina offers.

“Mom!” Henry gasps, sounding incredibly put out,  "I’m almost fifteen! I can’t sleep in the same bed as my mom. That’s just… weird!“

"Really, it’s fine.” Emma interjects, not wanting a fight to break out. She lays down on the floor, tugging the blanket over her. “It’s not the worst place I’ve had to sleep. Not even in the top five, really. At least there’s carpet here. No biggie.”

“Yes… well…” Regina turns and climbs into the queen size bed, trying not to think about the implications of what Emma has just said.

Henry looks from Regina, sliding under the covers of the bed, to Emma, rolling around in discomfort, and shakes his head. He climbs into the other bed and flicks off the light. He cannot believe that his mother is going to let Emma sleep on the floor. He really thought this would work, but if his mother doesn’t let Emma into the bed… he frowns, feeling guilt starting to pool in his stomach.

Maybe he should just suck it up and invite Emma up to share his bed for the night. It’s his fault this happened… he can’t just let her sleep on the floor.

With a sigh he rolls over, his mouth opening to tell Emma to get into bed with him, but his mother’s voice stops him.

“Miss Swan.”

There’s a sigh from the floor, one that sounds far more exhausted than it should from just the driving that Emma’s done today. “What, Regina?”

“Emma.” She says then, her voice softer. “This bed is quite large. So long as you stay on your own side, I suppose that you can – well, that you should – that is to say –”

Emma sits up and even squinting in the darkness, Henry can make out the light in her eyes as she smiles over at his mother. “Thanks, Regina.”

There’s a relieved sigh when Emma settles down into the bed, and Henry’s pretty sure that it’s come from all of them.

**

The next morning, he wakes up to the sight of his mothers, tangled up together. The bed sheets and duvet are a mess, half off the bed, the rest twisted around them. But neither seems to be cold, as they’re both wrapped up in each other.

Henry snaps a quick, silent picture of them, smiling to himself all the while, then gets up to put the do not disturb sign on the door.

He hasn’t seen either of his mothers look this peaceful in months, if not years. He wants them to have this for as long as possible, so he slips out of the room.

**

Regina stirs first, not long after Henry leaves the room.

She drifts slowly back to consciousness, first aware of the feeling of comfort and safety that is flowing through her. She can feel a body pressed against hers, holding her, but unlike usual, she doesn’t feel confined or trapped. The arms around her aren’t heavy and crushing, but strong and sturdy. She isn’t being caged, but cradled.

The urge to sink back into sleep, to curl closer to the body holding her and just rest is strong and she nearly gives in to it. But as she shifts closer, she feels hair tickling her nose and opens her eyes, suddenly realizing exactly who she’s snuggling into.

She meets green eyes, not the horrible black that they’d been for so many months, but a beautiful, vibrant green – Emma’s eyes, not those of the Dark Swan, but  _Emma’s eyes_  – blinking sleepily.

“Hey.” The blonde offers, a small smile stretching across her face.

“Hey.” She gives back, because she’s not quite sure what else to do or how else to react.

And then Emma yawns, stretching up with it, her grip on Regina loosening. Regina feels the muscles moving against her body and quickly retreats, closer to the edge of the bed.

“Mmm.” Emma hums after she’s finished her stretch. “I guess we should get up. Lots to do today.” She sits up and grins, acting as though it is completely natural to wake up, wrapped up in Regina.

Regina just nods and watches as she moves out the bed and towards the bathroom proclaiming, “I hope Henry is getting us coffee,” as she goes.

**

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Emma yelps when the desk clerk at their hotel in New York holds up the key cards to only one room as well.

Things have been going beautifully so far on the trip – Emma’s Operation Cheer Up Regina and Henry’s Operation No Vacancy both coming together almost perfectly for them.

They’d spent three days in Boston. Emma had done a great job booking everything to ensure that Regina had a good time. The first day they spent at the Museum of Fine Art where Emma had followed along behind Regina smiling and nodding every time his mom commented on one of the paintings, but only ever really looking at her. The second day, they’d spent time at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, then gone to the USS Constitution Museum, and finished out by walking the Freedom Trail, totally indulging his mom’s inner history geek. Henry had to admit that they were both really cool and he and Emma had a good time, but again, the day had been all about his mom.  Then today, they’d gone to the Boston Aquarium before climbing back into the Bug and driving to New York.

Each night after they got back to the hotel, Emma tried to book another room, but each night, the clerk told her they were sorry. She took it slightly better than she had the first night, just sighing and leaving without much fight. And each night, she tossed a blanket and pillow on the ground, only to lay there for approximately nine minutes – just the amount of time it took Henry to climb into his own bed, turn off the lights, and pretend like he was asleep – before his mom called her up to join her in bed. Each morning they were snuggled together when Henry woke up and slipped out of the room and there was never any awkwardness when he came back bearing coffee, which he took as a good sign.

But now, with this new hotel telling Emma that she’s only booked one room, she looks about ready to burst. “Look!” She demands, shoving her phone toward the clerk. “This reservation confirmation clearly says two rooms.”

Oh. Crap. Henry frowns. He didn’t think that Emma would actually go so far as to pull up the confirmation on her phone.

The clerk looks at the phone, then at her computer screen, chewing carefully on her lip. “I’m so sorry, Miss Swan. There must have been a glitch with our system.”

“It’s fine.” Emma says through clenched teeth. “Just give me a second room and –”

“I – I’m afraid I can’t. You see, we’re all booked up and –”

“No. No! I don’t care what room you put me in. I don’t care if it’s the freakin’ boiler room. But I booked two hotel rooms and I will get two hotel rooms, so help me or –”

“Emma.” Regina says, laying her hand on Emma’s shoulder and just like that, Emma’s rant stops. Her whole body unclenches and she just relaxes. Henry grins.

“One room is fine.” Regina smiles, taking the key cards from the clerk. “However we do expect that the hotel credits the cost of the other room that obviously was booked, back to our credit card.”

“Yes, of course.” The clerk nods quickly. Henry notes the use of ‘we’ and 'our’, but neither his mom or Emma seem to.

“Thank you.”

Henry watches as his mom carefully steers Emma towards the elevators, murmuring soothing words to her the whole way. He smiles widely as he slides the envelope over to the clerk.  Operation No Vacancy, Phase Two, complete.

**

There’s a sofa in this room, unlike the previous hotel, and Emma moves to it right away, having stopped to pull down an extra blanket from the closet as soon as she entered the room.

“Ma, you don’t have to sleep on the couch.” Henry protests, even as he tosses his bag onto the first bed. “I can take it.”

“It’s fine, Henry.” Emma offers a smile. “I just want to grab a shower and crash.”

“I could take the sofa.” Regina offers – she’s technically the shortest out of them – but Emma looks horrified by the prospect.

“No. Absolutely not. I will take the sofa. No arguments.”

**

Emma looks supremely uncomfortable, bunched up on the rock hard sofa. In fact, Henry thinks she looks more uncomfortable now than she did on the floor. With a sigh, he turns off the light and rolls over, wondering if there’s a way that he can get their room changed so that it doesn’t have a sofa.

His mom felt bad about Emma being on the floor, but it doesn’t seem like she cares as much about Emma being on the sofa. This isn’t what was supposed to happen.

He can hear Emma as she shifts around, trying to find some kind of comfortable position. And then he hears another sound, softer. The sound of his mom’s feet hitting the floor and walking across the carpet.

“Emma.” She says and Henry rolls over, squinting in the darkness to see what is happening.

Mom is standing in front of Emma, holding out her hand.

“Regina, I’m fine, really.” Emma tries to argue, but it doesn’t sound convincing to anyone.

“There is no way I will be able to sleep if I have to keep listening to you tossing and turning on this couch. I need my beauty rest, so come to bed, Emma.”

“You’re already beautiful.” He hears Emma whisper as she takes his mom’s hand, standing up. Mom doesn’t react, but Henry can’t stop the smile that spreads across his face.

This time when Emma climbs into the bed, they don’t even pretend that they’re going to stay on the same side, instead laying close together in the middle with Emma’s arm sliding over his mom’s waist.

Perfect, Henry thinks before he rolls over and falls to sleep.

**

After their second day in the city – the first spent showing Regina around their old neighborhood and telling her all kinds of stories and the second spent hanging out in Central Park, visiting the zoo and seeing all the beautiful sights – Emma stops making her daily stop at the front desk to check about the availability of another room. After the third night, she doesn’t even bother with settling on the couch anymore, but instead putters around in the bathroom until she thinks Henry is asleep, then goes and slides into bed with his mom.

They spend the remainder of the trip visiting the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, The Guggenheim, and the Museum of Natural History. They visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. They go to the top of the Empire State Building and then to Top of the Rock so that they can see the Empire State Building in the skyline. They spend a day shopping, visiting store after store. They even go to Madame Tussauds, where they all laugh and goof around, posing for pictures with the wax figures.

It is, Henry decides, pretty much the best vacation ever. Sure, there are things that he – and he’s sure Emma – would rather do, but his Mom is happy, which means that Emma is happy, and that equates to him being happy. Spending time with them like a family is all he really wants and he feels like Operation No Vacancy has been a complete success.

At least until the car ride home.

**

They’re about a half an hour away from their last hotel when his Mom lets out a happy little giggle. It’s not as unusual as it would normally be, as she’s been laughing and smiling pretty much this entire trip. But what is unusual is that she’s looking down at her phone, and not at him or Emma, when it happens.

“What’s so amusing?” Emma asks, her own smile bright across her face. Henry hasn’t seen her this happy or relaxed in a long time, not since their year in New York, and maybe never before or after that. “Are you looking at that picture of Henry drooling over the Taylor Swift wax figure again?”

“Ma!” He protests, feeling a slight blush creep up his cheeks. He hadn’t been drooling over the figure, not at all.

“No. I’m looking at the picture of you, drooling over the Sofia Vergara wax figure.” Regina retorts and Henry laughs at that.

Emma just shrugs and smiles, happy to take the teasing if it makes Regina happy.

“No, actually, I was just texting with Robin.”

The smile falls from Emma’s face. “Oh?” She says and her voice sounds strained, although Regina doesn’t seem to pick up on it.

“Yes. We’re making plans for when get back. Now that all the craziness with Zelena and the baby and well –” She looks at Emma for a second before looking away, but it’s obvious what she’s thinking about, “everything is done, we’re ready to get back on track. I told him we should be home by early afternoon tomorrow, so we’re planning dinner and… well, who knows?” She smiles then and Henry wants to throw up. Emma does too, if her expression is anything to go by. “I was hoping that you could keep Henry over night for me?”

Something like devastation flits across Emma’s face and Henry’s heart sinks.

“Yeah.” She breathes, sounding utterly defeated. “Of course. Anything for you. You deserve a break after all the craziness.”

“Thank you, Emma.”  His mom smiles, somehow not hearing the pain in Emma’s voice.

He watches as Emma blinks furiously and keeps her eyes straight ahead, her hand gripping the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles turn white. Regina is too busy texting to notice anything that’s happening and Henry feels the sting of tears piercing his own eyes.

**

“I’m sorry, Miss Swan –” The clerk starts after Emma hands over her credit card, but Henry quickly shakes his head, sliding his hand in front of his throat almost frantically. Emma is the only one who doesn’t notice, because she’s gearing up for what Henry is sure would be the mother of all meltdowns.

“Oh! Actually, I’m sorry, I must’ve looked at my screen incorrectly. You’re right. Two adjoining rooms.”

Emma doesn’t even say thank you or anything else, she just snatches one of the key cards and rushes for the elevator.

Henry moves forward and takes the other card, offering a sad smile to the clerk. “Sorry about that. Thanks though.”

“Of course.” The clerk smiles at him. “I’m sorry, too.”

“Henry –” His mom starts, but he just shakes his head.

“Not now, Mom.”

**

Emma’s in her room, the door locked when they reach their own room. Henry considers knocking, but he feels like he’s already messed things up enough as it is, so he just enters his room and flops down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Henry Daniel Mills,” Regina is already chastising him as she enters the room. “You will tell me what is going on right this instant.”

Henry sighs and sits up, looking at her with disbelief all over his features. “You really don’t see it, do you?”

“See what? What is going on? Why were you making those gestures at the desk clerk? And what is going on with Emma? She’s been quiet and moody and I thought we’d gotten over the sharing a room thing but downstairs she was –”

“What do you think this road trip was about, Mom?”

Regina blinks, caught off guard by the question. “It – Emma has been through a difficult time and she wanted to get away. I came because – well – I –”

“Emma wanted to get away?” Henry lets out a laugh. “Right. After all the  _craziness_ ,” and here he does finger quotations, tossing Regina’s words back at her, “Emma wanted to visit Boston and New York, even though she’s lived in both places. And she wanted to spend her trip visiting historical places and art museums and taking you to places that we loved when we lived in New York without knowing who we really were, not going to a ballgame at Fenway or you know, anything else that might have been suited to her interests. And she wanted to stay in fancy hotels with rooms that look like they could be your bedroom at home!”

“Henry, what are you –”

“This trip was about  _you_ , Mom.” He finally blurts, because he can’t do this anymore. He just can’t. “It was for you. Just like  _everything_  Emma does is  _for you_.”

There’s silence then, so heavy that Henry can feel it pressing down on both of them. There’s the lingering elephant in the room that no one, especially not his mom or Emma, will talk about. The fact that Emma had darkened her heart – her soul – for his mother. The fact that she had been willing to give up everything for his mom to be happy. That she would still give up everything for Regina to be happy.

“I don’t understand.” Regina says, her voice as quiet and as small as he’s ever heard it.

“I don’t either. I don’t understand how you can’t see what’s right in front of you. Emma planned this trip to get you out of Storybrooke, so that you wouldn’t have to deal with Zelena’s giving birth and Robin totally ignoring you. She wanted to give  _you_  happy memories of New York instead of the ones you had from the last time you were here. And it seemed like it was working. But apparently all it takes is a text from Robin – who was probably still sitting in a hospital room with Zelena and his baby with her, by the way – for everything to come crashing down.”

Henry shakes his head and turns away then, grabbing his bag and heading for the bathroom.

“Henry!” His mom calls after him, but he just keeps walking.

**

Henry doesn’t speak to her when he comes back out of the bathroom. She tries to get him to, tries to ask him more questions, tries to make sense of what he’s said, but he just shakes his head, looking so disappointed and she finds that she can’t speak past the lump in her throat.

She clutches her overnight bag and moves into the bathroom without really thinking about it. She’s scrubbing her face, hard, with a cleansing cloth when she hears the sound of Henry opening the adjoining door and knocking softly on Emma’s.

“Ma? Can I come in?” There’s silence for a long time and then she can hear the faint sound of Henry opening the other door. Emma, apparently, hasn’t locked it, hasn’t locked them – no, Henry – out completely.

Regina finds herself moving out of the bathroom, her ears straining to pick up sound from the next room. The doors are still slightly ajar and she can just make out the sight of Henry slipping into the bed beside Emma.

“I’m sorry, Ma.” He whispers, his voice sounding choked with tears. She feels her own tears rising up.

“It’s not your fault, Henry.” Emma murmurs back, brushing his hair back and kissing his forehead softly.

“But it really kind of is.” Henry protests, but Emma just shakes her head.

“I just forgot for a minute. That’s on me, not you.” She smiles at him then. “It’s okay though. We had a good trip. A great trip. Didn’t we?”

“Yeah, Ma.” Henry assures her. “It was the best.”

“And that’s all that matters.” She says, running her fingers through his hair. “You and your mom are happy. That’s all that matters. Now go on, get out of bed before someone finds out you were sharing with your mom.”

“Ewww.” He laughs as he rolls out of bed. But once he stands up, he turns back with a more serious expression on his face. “I love you, Ma.”

“And I love you, Henry. Always.”

**

She waits until she hears Henry close the door and climb into bed before she comes back out of the bathroom.

Henry has the covers pulled up and his back to her bed, a sure sign that he doesn’t want to talk. It stings, but she needs the quiet to try and piece her scattered thoughts together.

The bed seems huge and cold without another body in it and she can’t help but find that odd. After all, she’s slept by herself for years with no trouble and even after Robin had vacated her bed –  _to go back to his wife, who wasn’t even really his wife but still he had stayed with her_ , a little voice whispers in the back of her mind –  she hadn’t been bothered. But now, after a few nights of Emma sharing her bed, she can’t seem to shake the lonely feeling she has.

Her phone buzzes then, breaking her out of those thoughts and she grabs it to see a text from Robin. She can’t stop the frown that comes when she sees his name instead of Emma’s, but she refuses to let herself analyze that train of thought. Robin is her happy ending. He’s what she wants. She’s just confused because of everything Henry told her tonight.

She clicks open the message, smiling at the thought of finally, finally getting her happy ending, only to have the smile fall away as she reads. The baby has a doctor’s appointment the next day and Robin plans to attend and then go to dinner with Zelena afterwards. He wants to know if perhaps they could postpone their plans until the following day.

She types back a reply, asking if it’s really necessary for him to take Zelena to dinner after the appointment and his reply is almost instantaneous.  _She’s the mother of my child._

It’s nothing that she hasn’t heard from him before, but it fuels her anger now. She taps out a reply angrily, hitting send with more force than is needed.

It takes a little longer for a reply to come through this time, but when it does, it makes Regina see red.  _Don’t be so selfish, Regina._

She tosses the phone across the room, taking pleasure in the sound of it hitting the carpeted ground. How dare he?

She lays back, staring up at the ceiling, trying to quiet her mind and go to sleep, but suddenly, everything from the last few hours hits her, full force. Words echo in her head and images swirl around behind her eyes.

Emma walking with her through the museums, listening as she extolled the virtues of the artists and proclaimed the beauty of the works.

_“You’re already beautiful.”_

Emma driving them around in the Bug, singing along to the radio with a grin.

_“Now that all the craziness with Zelena and the baby and well, everything is done, we’re ready to get back on track.”_

Emma and Henry laughing as they walked through the streets of New York together.

_“This trip was about you, Mom. It was for you. Just like everything Emma does is for you.”_

Emma holding her at night, making her feel safe and protected.

_“Of course. Anything for you.”_

Henry frowning at her in disappointment.

_“I don’t understand how you can’t see what’s right in front of you.”_

Robin’s face when she’d tried to tell him the truth about Zelena, the disbelief painted there.

_“Don’t be so selfish, Regina.”_

Emma racing forward, thrusting the dagger in the air and being swallowed by the darkness.

_“You’ve worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed.”_

Emma’s smile and the brightness in her eyes that first morning they’d woken up together.

_“You and your mom are happy. That’s all that matters.”_

But Regina isn’t happy. At least, not right now. But as she goes over everything in her head, she’s more sure than ever before that she could be. She just has to do something.

**

There’s a comfort she feels as she slides into the bed beside Emma that nearly overwhelms her. She could so easily just close her eyes and drift off to sleep, but she knows she needs to talk to Emma.

“Emma.” She whispers into the darkness.

Emma doesn’t jump at the sound of her voice, merely rolls over to look at her. She must have been aware that Regina was in the room, then. In the darkness, Regina thinks she can make out red around Emma’s eyes and she feels her stomach sink at the sight.

“What’s wrong?” Emma whispers, her eyes tracking over Regina and moving towards the door, trying to find any threat of danger.

“Robin texted me.” Regina starts and Emma’s eyes close, her head beginning to shake back and forth.

“Regina, please.” The plea slides from her mouth and Regina feels like someone is squeezing her heart at the pain that she can finally hear. “I can’t –”

“He wanted to cancel our plans tomorrow to spend time with Zelena and the baby and when I asked him why he needed to spend time with Zelena over me, he said that she was the mother of his child and that I was being selfish.” She looks at Emma, needing to see her reaction, needing to know the truth. “Do you think he’s right, Emma? Am I selfish?”

Emma’s eyes and mouth fly open instantly, ready to reply before she clamps them shut again and takes a deep breath. She opens her eyes and looks at Regina, her face a mask. “Regina, I am the last person that you should be asking about this.”

Regina flinches, thinking of how Emma’s childhood was awful because of her curse, of how she became the Dark Swan for Regina, of how she had planned this whole trip for Regina and she’d never even said thank you. Robin was right. She is selfish. “Because you know it’s true.” She whispers as she shuts her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears from leaking out.

“Because I think Robin is a douchebag.” Emma snorts and Regina’s eyes fly open.

“Wh-what?”

“I think your soulmate is a douchebag.” Emma replies again, sounding somehow both nonchalant and bitter at the same time. “You deserve a happy ending, Regina. And that should come from someone who will put you first, because you deserve that too. It doesn’t make you selfish to want to be happy – not at all.”

“Someone who will put me first.” Regina murmurs, thinking over her relationship with Robin and how that had never been the case. Then she thinks of Emma, standing between her and mobs of angry people, defending her to the parents that she’d just found, fighting for her always, even when Regina didn’t want it. She thinks of the trip they just took, of the museums and historical sights, of Emma’s forced smiles and hidden tears after she had – selfishly – thrown Robin into Emma’s face. “Emma.”

“Huh?” Emma frowns, not understanding.

“Emma,” Regina repeats. “It’s you.”

“Regina, it’s late, I’m exhausted, and you’re not making a lot of sense right now. Can we pick this back up in the morning or –”

“You put me first, Emma.” Regina interrupts her. “You always put me first. Not Robin, but you. You sacrificed yourself for me. You planned this whole trip for me. Why?”

“Regina.” Emma sounds so tired and also pained.

“Why, Emma?” She pushes, needing to hear her answer.

Emma closes her eyes and when she opens them again, they are shining with unshed tears. “Because I love you, Regina.”

Regina gasps at that, because even though she had thought, hoped that perhaps that is what Emma would say, she also never really thought it possible. The Savior loved her? The Evil Queen? It doesn’t make sense. And yet, it makes more sense than anything else in her life ever really has.

Emma shifts as though to distance herself, but Regina reaches out, grabbing her arm, holding her tightly. “Emma. I –”

“Don’t.” Emma whispers, cutting her off before she can reply. “Please. Not now. Not when… not when it’s not true.”

“But –”

“You were planning on going to dinner with Robin, happy about trying again with him half an hour ago. So please don’t say anything to me, just because I told you how I feel. I can deal with you not sharing my feelings. I can’t deal with you lying to me.”

Regina wants to protest, but she also knows that Emma is right. Everything is spinning so quickly right now and while she may have loved Emma for a long time, she’s buried it so far that it doesn’t make sense to admit it now. She doesn’t want to hurt Emma, not any more than she already has. So she just holds on to her arm, but doesn’t say the words that she finds she know desperately wants to.

“I’m not trying anything with Robin again. I want – I want to be with you. You and Henry. That’s how it should be. Please, Emma, I just –”

“Ok.” Emma whispers, believing Regina. “Shh. It’s late. Go to sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Regina nods and shifts closer to Emma. “Can I stay here tonight? I – I can’t sleep without you.”

Emma gives her a soft smile and pulls her close, wrapping her up in her arms. It isn’t perfect, not yet, but it’s a damn good start.

**

“What are you doing up so early?” Henry asks the next morning, when he returns from getting coffee to find his mother sitting on her perfectly made, perfectly unslept in bed.

Regina looks up from her phone with a smile. “Just finalizing a few plans.”

Henry rolls his eyes as he hands her a cup. “For you and Robin?”

“No.” Regina says, sounding offended. “For our family.”

Henry blinks. What had happened last night?

Emma comes through the door then, bleary eyed. “Do I smell coffee?”

“You do.” Henry hands over her cup.

“Oh thank god. Just let me drink this and then I’ll be ready to drive us back to Storybrooke.” Emma sighs as she inhales the aroma of the dark liquid.

“Actually, Emma, I’ll be driving us. And we aren’t going back to Storybrooke today.”

“What?”

“Where are we going?” He and Emma speak at the same time.

“This was supposed to be  _our_ vacation, not just mine. You two showed me how much you love me by doing things that I wanted to do. Now it’s my turn to show you that I love you by doing something that you’ll enjoy.” Regina says, saying the words without making a huge declaration.

Henry’s eyes widen as he looks back and forth between his moms. “Wh-what are we doing?” He finally manages to stutter out.

Regina hands her phone over to him and looks at the screen, his eyes lighting up. “No way! Six Flags New England?”

“Regina!” Emma gasps, sounding completely thrilled, “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” She says, sounding incredibly serious as she looks at Emma with nothing but love on her face. “It’s my turn to do some planning for you.”

**

After a long exhausting day at the amusement park, they head into a hotel, Regina leading the way to the lobby. She picks up the keys to both rooms that she’s booked and then hands one to Henry.

“Behave.” She tells him as he heads for the elevators.

“You too!” He calls back over his shoulder, a wide grin on his face.

Regina looks momentarily mortified, but Emma laughs, letting her head fall on Regina’s shoulder.

“So, does this room have a couch or am I being regulated to the floor?” Emma asks with a teasing smirk and Regina swats her arm.

“It has a king sized bed, but if you keep this up, you may very well be sleeping on the floor.”

“You know you love me.” Emma teases as the elevator door goes shut.

Regina turns to her and looks her straight in the eye. “Yes. I do.”

“Good.” Emma murmurs, nodding. “Because I love you too.”

That night, when she finally falls asleep in Emma’s arms, naked and content, she knows that things are finally perfect.


End file.
